The Watchmen was an exceptional piece of writing. Reading the comics or watching the movie takes you back to an alternate Cold War better than any other medium possibly could. The sense of impending doom and helplessness is palpable and perhaps more of a horror story than anything else. As everyone knows, DC has pumped life back into the series by creating Doomsday Clock and immersing them (The Watchmen) into the DC Universe alongside Superman and the like. The writing inspired me so much and seemed just like the original, that I thought the earlier writer was back. No such luck, instead we do get the brilliant Geoff Johns with artist Gary Frank supporting him. Apparently, this series is scheduled for 12 issues, I bet they go far beyond that. I would love to see another movie too. They refer to this as a maxiseries, not really sure what "maxi" means in this context. But the real question is can one of these books maximize profits?
This series brings back everyone's favorite Rorschach. Good lord was this character cool in the movie. Rorschach was like Batman and Punisher rolled one: the ultimate anti-hero; just check out the cafeteria scene from Watchmen the movie and tell me I am wrong. Doomsday Clock #1 was created by Geoff Johns (writing) and Gary Frank (art). The FMV value of (9.8) mint is still only $50 for this nice first appearance of the new Rorschach among others. Currently, there are only 25 sales mostly from eBay. However, this book has managed to eek out a gain of positive +7.1% for a grade of mint (9.8). This is shockingly good for a new book. If we compare to say Amazing Spider-Man #798 first appearance of Red Goblin, this book (Doomsday Clock #1) has it beaten with an overall return. Even if there are fewer sales and hooplah.
Doomsday Clock #1 (Lenticular Variant Cover)
The standard first edition is a good bet, but be sure to take a look at the variant with the lenticular cover it is an outstanding nice collectible for a modern comic book. Doomsday Clock #1 (Lenticular Variant Cover) has four times the sales of the standard first printing but unfortunately, negative returns. The (9.9) graded book had seven sales and has dropped -20.2% and its mint grade (9.8) was in the red as well with negative -20.9%. The only ray of light for this book is a small return in the (9.6) grades of positive +4.7%.
If you buy the standard book for about $50 and sit on it until they do another move of the characters and genre that is a good bet. Even if the catalyst of a movie doesn't materialize you are still making a return of positive +7% for a grade (9.8) which is pretty good for a new comic Doomsday Clock #1. The CGC Census was small for such a modern book probably why it has retained a positive return with total copies at 656 books. We get out a few years and this book could seem quite quaint and a piece of the history of this growing series. It just depends on if it works well with upcoming comics and the direction of DC Comics. Hopefully, we get a movie and have the characters interacting with Wonder Woman and Superman. Bringing Watchmen into the mainstream and allowing them to be part of a larger cinematic universe would have a positive impact on this comic book's ROI.
